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When Max Kellerman, closing out the recent HBO fight card, told Kelly Pavlik that "saying no-one knows who European fighters are isn't good enough. Clean out the division, Kelly" it seems that most American viewers felt he was being unneccessarily harsh towards a young up and coming champion who rather than being criticised deserved a little bit of praise from the people who are presenting him to the world.
All well and good you might think, but I believe Kellerman was speaking from a point of view that encompasses more than just the career of Kelly Pavlik, and had noticed something very important that Pavlik's future is just a part of: the future of American boxing and the possible crossroads at which it now stands, a crossroads at which the path chosen by fighters like Pavlik will either make, or break, US boxing as a whole.
The facts are these: Right now in 2008, the self styled "Mecca of Boxing" has just 2 Ring champions, Kelly Pavlik and the supposedly "retired" Floyd Mayweather Junior. In the P4P list, just three Americans are currently top 10, one is Mayweather, one is the surely soon to be retired Bernard Hopkins, and one again, is Pavlik. If Mayweather's retirement were for any reason to stick, in the very near future America will find itself with just one guy flying the flag at boxing's very highest level. You guessed it, Kelly Pavlik. Starting to see what Kellerman was driving at yet?
For perhaps the first time in its history, "The Mecca of Boxing" is looking at a boxing world where it might not only have to accept competing on a level playing field, but may even be playing catchup to the rest of the world. The relative absence from the ranks of young up and coming fighters to replace the fading greats of what was itself no US golden era, Hopkins, De La Hoya, Mosley, Jones, Winky Wright et al, means that it is not clear where America's next generation is going to come from, and puts an awful lot of responsibility on the broad shoulders of the man we keep coming back to, Kelly Pavlik.
Simply put, it is possible that 'The Ghost' may be America's most important single fighter in decades. If he fulfils his potential, keeps winning and climbs through the rankings then America will be still be able to proudly fly its flag at the highest peaks of the game. But if he loses, what then? Where will American boxing be? It may very well have to accept second place to to its Latin neighbours and an improving Europe, buoyed by boxing's resurgence paticularly in its ex Soviet eastern nations. Some may say that for American boxing this is a fate worse than death, but I think there is a worse one, and I think Max Kellerman knew it too.
Surely the worst fate that could befall as proud and great a boxing nation as the USA would be for it not only to fall behind Europe, but to actually take its place. What if America, in a boxing world in which it is no longer the dominant force, falls prey to the same weakness it has always derided in its rivals, that of trying to cling onto a status that it no longer posesses. What if America starts protecting its fighters?
This is a question that American boxing in general, and Kelly Pavlik in particular may soon have to provide an answer to. It is also the question that, indirectly as it were, Max Kellerman was asking Kelly Pavlik straight up. No-one doubts that American boxing's greatness rests on its history of being dominant, but if it is not dominant, then can it still be great? Can America do what other nations and continents could not, and prove that greatness by ensuring that America's best always fight the best? Will Kelly Pavlik stay at home and chase the money in fights with fading greats, or will he chase boxing's greatest prize, glory, and take on all comers, no matter the risk, and no matter where in the world they come from?
One thing is for sure, if Kelly Pavlik won't do it, then it is not at all clear who will. Perhaps new stars will appear in time, but perhaps they won't, and when eventually they do what kind of boxing culture will they emerge into? Will it be the one that America has fought long and hard to develop, a culture of courage and determination based on an unquenchable will to win and desire for glory, or will it be something else, a boxing culture atrophied by years of well meaning isolation?
Predicting the future is never easy, and no-one will ever have all the answers, but right now Kelly Pavlik is the man with more answers than most. We can't see into his head any more than we can see into the future, but like the future, all we have to do is wait. Eventually Kelly's actions will reveal everything we need to know, whether his head is ruled by his wallet, or whether it is ruled by his heart. As boxing fans, lets hope it is the latter and that American boxing, in perhaps one of its toughest times, gets the champion it deserves.
All well and good you might think, but I believe Kellerman was speaking from a point of view that encompasses more than just the career of Kelly Pavlik, and had noticed something very important that Pavlik's future is just a part of: the future of American boxing and the possible crossroads at which it now stands, a crossroads at which the path chosen by fighters like Pavlik will either make, or break, US boxing as a whole.
The facts are these: Right now in 2008, the self styled "Mecca of Boxing" has just 2 Ring champions, Kelly Pavlik and the supposedly "retired" Floyd Mayweather Junior. In the P4P list, just three Americans are currently top 10, one is Mayweather, one is the surely soon to be retired Bernard Hopkins, and one again, is Pavlik. If Mayweather's retirement were for any reason to stick, in the very near future America will find itself with just one guy flying the flag at boxing's very highest level. You guessed it, Kelly Pavlik. Starting to see what Kellerman was driving at yet?
For perhaps the first time in its history, "The Mecca of Boxing" is looking at a boxing world where it might not only have to accept competing on a level playing field, but may even be playing catchup to the rest of the world. The relative absence from the ranks of young up and coming fighters to replace the fading greats of what was itself no US golden era, Hopkins, De La Hoya, Mosley, Jones, Winky Wright et al, means that it is not clear where America's next generation is going to come from, and puts an awful lot of responsibility on the broad shoulders of the man we keep coming back to, Kelly Pavlik.
Simply put, it is possible that 'The Ghost' may be America's most important single fighter in decades. If he fulfils his potential, keeps winning and climbs through the rankings then America will be still be able to proudly fly its flag at the highest peaks of the game. But if he loses, what then? Where will American boxing be? It may very well have to accept second place to to its Latin neighbours and an improving Europe, buoyed by boxing's resurgence paticularly in its ex Soviet eastern nations. Some may say that for American boxing this is a fate worse than death, but I think there is a worse one, and I think Max Kellerman knew it too.
Surely the worst fate that could befall as proud and great a boxing nation as the USA would be for it not only to fall behind Europe, but to actually take its place. What if America, in a boxing world in which it is no longer the dominant force, falls prey to the same weakness it has always derided in its rivals, that of trying to cling onto a status that it no longer posesses. What if America starts protecting its fighters?
This is a question that American boxing in general, and Kelly Pavlik in particular may soon have to provide an answer to. It is also the question that, indirectly as it were, Max Kellerman was asking Kelly Pavlik straight up. No-one doubts that American boxing's greatness rests on its history of being dominant, but if it is not dominant, then can it still be great? Can America do what other nations and continents could not, and prove that greatness by ensuring that America's best always fight the best? Will Kelly Pavlik stay at home and chase the money in fights with fading greats, or will he chase boxing's greatest prize, glory, and take on all comers, no matter the risk, and no matter where in the world they come from?
One thing is for sure, if Kelly Pavlik won't do it, then it is not at all clear who will. Perhaps new stars will appear in time, but perhaps they won't, and when eventually they do what kind of boxing culture will they emerge into? Will it be the one that America has fought long and hard to develop, a culture of courage and determination based on an unquenchable will to win and desire for glory, or will it be something else, a boxing culture atrophied by years of well meaning isolation?
Predicting the future is never easy, and no-one will ever have all the answers, but right now Kelly Pavlik is the man with more answers than most. We can't see into his head any more than we can see into the future, but like the future, all we have to do is wait. Eventually Kelly's actions will reveal everything we need to know, whether his head is ruled by his wallet, or whether it is ruled by his heart. As boxing fans, lets hope it is the latter and that American boxing, in perhaps one of its toughest times, gets the champion it deserves.
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